Traffic Stop Opens Door To International Intrigue

April 19, 1986|By Philip Wattley.

It began as a routine traffic stop for two police officers, but it soon had the makings of a mystery novel: thousands of dollars in Canadian and U.S. currency, a used parachute and two closed-mouthed cowboys in a car with unregistered plates.

And a few hours after Patrol Officers Thomas Ward and George Rosebrock of the East Chicago Avenue District stopped the 1983 station wagon near Rush Street, the case was being investigated by city detectives, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the U.S. Customs Bureau and Montana authorities.

By late afternoon Friday, the two men had posted $100 bond each on misdemeanor charges and been turned over to agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration, according to East Chicago Avenue District police.

The focus of the investigation is $176,180 that the police officers found wrapped in plastic and stuffed inside a nylon knapsack--along with a lot of dirt.

``It looked like it was just dug up,`` said Lt. Walter Conrad.

After counting the money, police determined it consisted of $144,380 in Canadian currency with the rest in U.S. bills. ``Most of it was in $100 bills,`` Conrad said. ``And the Canadian money was in stacks of $10,000.``

The two men in the car carried papers identifying them as John Boadle, 25, of Eureka, Mont., and Connie Haynes, 32, of Miami, but they told police only that they did not know to whom the money belonged.

Asked about an unpacked white parachute that was found in the station wagon, they remained mute. When police called Montana authorities to check the registration of the license plates, they were told no such plates were on file.

Police declined to speculate on the origin of the money.

Ward and Rosebrock pulled the car over at 1 a.m. after they noticed it go through a stop sign at State and Walton Streets with its headlights off. As the police officers approached, they saw Haynes stuff something under the seat which they later discovered was the knapsack containing the money.

Boadle was arrested after police found he was carrying a hunting knife. He was charged with possession of an illegal weapon, driving with no headlights and failure to obey a stop sign. Both men were charged with possession of lost or mislaid property after they professed they did not own the money.

A court date has been set for May 7 on the misdemeanor charges.

The men both were dressed in dirty Western-style clothes, Conrad said.

``All their clothes were dirty, even their socks,`` he said . ``But they had brand new cowboy boots on.``